Drill Press Table

[Bob Noles]

I want to add a drill press table to my floor model DP.

What is the best route to go? Purchase or build? If purchase, what is the best source for the money? If build, please show me some pictures and/or give me some ideas and where to aquire T-Track and hardware.

Thanks for any thoughts and suggestions you have.

[Larry D. Wagner]

Bob

I'm in the process of building mine. I'm using the pictures from Woodpecker's DP Table as a guide. I don't know if it will be exactly like it, but their design is the best I've seen. I'm using some Shop Fox track I purchased locally for the clamps, etc. I think if I had it to do over, I would buy one of the two Woodpecker tables. I am gettting a lot of valuable experience, I suppose. One is about $120.00 and the other is $130.00. By the time I purchased everything and considering the time I have invested, their table is really quite inexpensive.

Just my .02 worth!

Larry

[Doug Shepard]

I made this one about 6-7 yrs ago. It's on an antique monster DP obsoleted out of an auto plant that doesn't have any tilting mechanisms. So it's actually 3 tables. The top 2 hinge to allow for single and compound angle drilling. The hinges are removable pin type, so if need be, I can pull the pins and remove one or more of the pieces. Each layer of the table is 2 pcs of laminated 3/4 Baltic birch ply covered by the plastic laminate then beech for the edging. I was going to buy T-track, but the cost of putting it on 3 table sections was too much. So I toyed with some scrap and one of those T-slot router bits and was happy enough with the results to just go that route. I had to file/grind off the longer ears on the toilet bolts to get them to fit in the T-slots for holding down the fence and the hold-downs and stop-block jigs I made for it, but that wasn't a major hassle.

[Andy Haney]

I built mine from MDF and scrap ply, using a plan from Wood Magazine as a starting point. The final product didn't resemble the plan very much, but is very effective and inexpensive...really no more than the price of the hardware. I used T-Track from Woodpecker/Incra, and it matched the thickness of 1/2" MDF perfectly. I didn't have to route for tracks, just put pieces of MDF between pieces of T-Track, all on a 3/4" ply base.

[Jeff A. Smith]

First of all... if I had it all to do over again, I'd buy one from Woodpeck. Mine got really expensive before I finished.

AND NOW... for the gotcha:

Make sure you allow AMPLE access to your elevation mechanism on your press. Mine restricted my access so much I just plain hate to change it. It's like "Turn, Swivel, Bump" 45 times to raise or lower the elevation a little. The problem came from designing it, and then, without actually using it any, modifying my original design (tryin' to get fancy) to have a vertical mortising table on it. Bad idea, never ever even tried to use that feature. All these design changes happened "off the press," and when I mounted the darned thing -- Turn, Swivel, Bump.

Next time... Woodpeck.

Jeff Smith

[JayStPeter]

Mine is from the kit sold by Peachtree. I like it.

Jay

http://www.ptreeusa.com/drillpressacc.html

[Jim Becker]

Mine is from scrap baltic birch plywood laminated to a piece of MDF with a scrap oak fence that rides on toilet bolts sliding in tee-slots. 24" wide by about 18" deep. It even has a replaceable insert where the bits go...and the price was right. IMHO, this is yet another project perfect to build since you can do it while the glue is drying on another project!

[John Keane]

I have a Woodpeckers DP table. It's only drawback is the table has to be loosened and moved out of the way to raise or lower the drill press table. It only takes seconds but is a drawback. I had a Rockler table that made an allowance for this. Even so I like the Woodpecker better.

[Hoa Dinh]

What do you plan to use it for?

I have a simple DP table made from a piece of 3/4" melamine, 2 sections of T-track. The fence is a piece of angle aluminum. It has a half-moon shaped cutout to clear the DP chuck. I can't remember the cost, but I'd be surprised of it was more than $20.

When I slapped it together, I told myself that I would build or buy a nice one when I had a chance. It's been 5 years and that chance has not come yet. And I don't feel I'm missing anything.

[Bob Noles]

Wow... Thanks for the fast responses.

I know I can always post here for great advice from the pros. I have not come to a firm conclusion yet, but it makes sense that a purchased table may be the best route to follow for my needs and situation. I have been looking at Rockler with their 15% off sale, but the Woodpecker sure looks like a sweet setup for the money. I also found one to build in ShopNotes #74 that has sliding extensions.

I hate making decisions but need to plan on what to do after completing my router table this coming weekend.

Think I'll drag my feet a few days on making a final decision and continue to look at the pros and cons of building vs buying.

Thanks again for your helpful posts.

[Jon Farley]

I have the Rockler drill press table and feel it was well worth the price ($100) versus what I would have spent on making my own.

[Jules Dominguez]

I have a 40 year old Craftsman table model drill press which is heavy duty enough to support a large worktable. I made one out of some scrap 3/4" birch plywood with 1"x3" oak stiffeners. The table is 16 inches wide by 58 inches long. No t-slots, sliding fences or other gadgets. When I need a fence, I clamp a board to the table. I also made an auxiliary table for drum sanding, based on an old Woodsmith project but modified to suit my preferences. It's 13 1/2 inches by 40 inches and has a shop vac hookup for dust collection. Both work great and make it easy to handle long workpieces. I have a home-made router table with store-bought top, and homemade mortising jig, so I don't plan to use the drill press for those uses. By the way, my "shop" is spread over 3 rooms in a basement that has other uses, so these pix are definitely not a "shop gloat".
You'll note from the drum sander picture that I also made the drill press stand. It's also 40 years old and has survived 3 house moves.
As a matter of philosophy (and tightness), I always prefer to make any accessories that I can. Not to sound like an elitist, but why buy the tools if you're not going to use them?

[Dave Falkenstein]

I built one from the plans available on the Wood Magazine site. It has a side table that allows clamping stock vertically. It is a bit heavy, but it works quite well. As I recall, I got all the hardware in a kit from Schlabaugh. See the plan at:

http://store.woodstore.net/drilprestab.html

There are several plans available from Wood, in addition to the one above.

[Jeff Sudmeier]

Wow, there have been some great tables displayed on this thread. I have saved it to my hard drive for when I finally upgrade my DP! I will be building one of these.

[Bob Noles]

Jules,

You certainly make a lot of sense and thanks for the pictures.